Reminiscences of a Bengal Civilian (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. VOYAGE TO CALCUTTA?APPOINTED ASSISTANT SECRETARY TO GOVERNMENT OF AGRA?AFFAIRS IN AFFGHANISTAN. I Left Bombay for Calcutta in the end of August, 1837, in a small vessel called the Ambassador, which was employed in the merchant service between that port, Madras, and Bombay. We had a very pleasant and prosperous voyage to Madras, and after a stay of several days there proceeded to Calcutta. It was late in the evening when we sailed, and the appearance of the weather was most threatening; the storm signal for vessels to put to sea was flying at the flagstaff. We had scarcely sailed when the gale commenced blowing furiously; but it was fortunately in our favour. The night was very dark, and about nine o'clock, as I was standing by the captain, close to the wheel, we suddenly saw immediately before us a vessel beating across our bows. We were on the crest of a sea and she in the trough beneath, so that I could see right on to her deck, and a collision seemed inevitable. My first idea was that the shock would be so great that I should certainly be thrown down, and perhaps overboard; so I jumped forward and seized hold of the binnacle to steady myself.In the twinkling of an eye we crashed into her; but strange to say, I was unconscious of any shock. We struck her near the stern, carried away her boat and bulwarks and a mass of rigging, and dragged her after us for a short way, before we could get clear. The noise of the wind, the crashing of the rigging, and the shouts of the crew of both vessels were rather appalling. As soon as we were clear, I heard the captain give the order to " sound the pumps," and I think I scarcely ever in my life felt more relieved and thankful than when I heard the answer that "all was well, and that we had received no damage." The darkne...